Stay
by VR Miller
Summary: While Eva understood accepting a job at Stark Industries would be a life altering decision, she hadn't quite understood in what ways. Bruce Banner/OC; paper thin plots galore


**I don't own Marvel or the Avengers, I only own Eva and any other OCs I decide to make. I make no profit off this and am simply providing trashy, paper-thin plots for all. (PS if you're looking for good fic you're in the wrong place. Proceed with caution)**

The first week of her employment at Stark Industries, Evangaline Moore had wondered what exactly was the problem about "Every Other Thursday". Once she'd realized what was entailed in those days, Eva began to despise them as much as her boss did.

Stark Tower was not as tightly run as Eva had initially expected for a company of its magnitude. Now, Tony Stark knew everything about everyone and everything that they did (Really- one couldn't go to the bathroom without him knowing about it), however the atmosphere was... relaxed. It was nice. The first time she'd ventured into the "real" working world since her days as a young teenager, Eva had been apprehensive about having the boss from hell. Turns out Tony, while extremely childish, was not the worst man to work for, being incredibly fair and lenient in some regards. Really as long as one did their job and didn't break anything, life was good.

However, Tony also made her life harder than it needed to be; Having taking over Pepper's prior job as Tony's PA (what with Pepper having moved up the corporate ranks and having responsibilities that no longer enabled her to keep an eye on him), Eva was, in a nutshell, supposed to make sure Tony was where he was supposed to be when he was supposed to be there. Easier said than done when the multi-billionaire decided he had better things to do when it came time for his meetings.

Eva dreaded "Every Other Thursday"; The men booking these conferences were pompous, entitled assholes who held no qualms about harassing her. Under normal circumstances she'd of torn into them (no one had ever talked to her face about her like that in her horse trainer days), but she was no longer the little queen of her world- Eva was decidedly a small fish in the big pond, and not super pleased with the less pleasant aspects of that life. Still feeling on thin ice (last hire, first fire and all that), the one time she'd voiced her displeasure at the passive comments being made, Eva had been immediately dismissed by the men and told to learn how to take a compliment. Eva didn't say anything to Tony about the matter that day, or any day after in the three months that followed.

Now, once again, Tony got the notion in his head that he had things he'd rather be doing. Starting to get the hang of Tony's hiding places, Eva suspected this was simply a game to him. There were three men in the upper levels waiting, and going back sans Stark really wasn't going to be an option. They gave her the absolute shittiest looks, as if it was her fault her boss didn't want to talk to them.

Eva found it extremely difficult to fault him for his unwillingness to deal with these people.

Sighing, Eva contemplated where to go first before the obvious hit her in the head like a stack of bricks. "JARVIS?"

Not a beat later, Tony's AI responded. "Yes, Miss Moore?"

"I don't suppose you could tell me where Tony is, could you?"

"Mr. Stark is on the 83rd floor with Dr. Banner, Miss Moore."

"Thank you JARVIS."

"My pleasure, Miss Moore."

The name Banner was vaguely familiar but Eva couldn't place it- there had been a whirl of scientists she'd been quickly introduced to, none of whom stuck; As Tony's PA, she was one of his "important people", and while she was still on a sort of probation of sorts (I.E. Tony hacking everything he could to discover every little thing there was and then triple checking his own work, no doubt), once that was over and done with she'd have access to everything and everyone in the Tower (at least, everything Tony didn't specifically want her to not know), including the Avengers. Eva was fairly positive she'd be fine sticking to making appointments, having given the group of superheros a wide berth where she could help it. Though; occasionally Eva had wondered where on Earth Tony could possibly be keeping the Hulk.

Making her way towards the elevator, JARVIS anticipated where she was heading.

"The 83rd floor, Miss Moore?"

"Yes please, JARVIS." Eva confirmed, pulling out her phone and checking her email until there was a ding announcing her arrival.

Stepping off onto the 83rd floor, Eva really had no idea where to start looking. There was so much in the R&D departments... Or "Candyland" as Tony insisted on it being called. Eva might have gotten a science degree but had promptly not put it to use for the past decade and a half; Nursing would have been her fall back, but things ended up working okay for her. Unfortunately almost 2 decades later had rendered her credentials back in the day basically useless, and Eva'd had to improvise on finding a job.

The first four labs were empty, the two following holding scientists but no Tony; After the second one, Eva'd had the brilliant idea to ask for Dr. Banner (suspicious that asking for Tony would garner her no real traction). The lab tech had looked about ready to faint at the mention of the doctor. Maybe the man was a holy terror or something, but the gentleman who appeared in charge of this lab pointed Eva where she needed to go.

Making her way down the hall, she did not put it past Tony to try and avoid her even more than he was doing already; "JARVIS?"

"Yes Miss Moore?"

"Does Tony know I'm hot on his trail?"  
"No, Miss Moore."  
"Alrighty, don't tell him I'm on my way." _Gonna snatch him 6 ways to Sunday when I get my hands on him._ It shouldn't be _this_ much of an ordeal to get one's boss to their meeting on time.

There was no response from JARVIS, but Eva was hoping for the best. The lab her directions led to was locked (unlike the ones prior), a scanner poised on the wall. Huffing, Eva pulled her badge off her vest and gave it a try. Tony had already cleared her for most areas, in the event that something tangible needed to be ferried with minimal fuss. Super secret labs on the restricted floors however, might be another story.

 _Or not,_ Eva mused to herself as the red light on the lock flashed before turning green. Phone still in one hand, Eva clipped the badge back to the collar of her button down before opening the door.

The labs with people in them had been teaming with activity, however this one looked completely deserted.

"They're all screwing with me." Huffing, Eva ventured further into the lab- the lights were on, no one could of gotten very far if they'd left the lab. Was this some sort of belated hazing? _Hey, let's send the new girl on a scavenger hunt! It'll be hilarious!_

Someone was in the middle of something from the looks- there were open notebooks, tablets lying around... what the hell? _Where was Tony?_ Even if Tony was screwing with her, surely Dr. Banner had more important things to be doing than entertaining whatever game his boss was playing.

"Tony?" To hell with this. The man was absolutely _ridiculous_ and if he really thought that she was going to be putting up with this every two weeks he had another thing c-

"Who are you?"

That line of thought was broken by a voice and an abrupt yelp on her end. Jumping higher than should have been physically possible in her heels _(note to self: Wear flats on Every Other Thursday)_ , Eva whipped around to see who had managed to sneak behind her.

The owner of the voice was...decidedly average. In a good way. Eva blinked, her mind whirling miles a minute. Average height, aesthetically put together without being overtly so. He looked awfully concerned, not that Eva could blame him, what with her barging into his lab without so much as a "how do you do".

"Who. Are. You?" While the first question had been more of a mild concern, this time he sounded slightly less tolerant of her presence. Eva knew a hint when she heard one- however, she really wanted nothing to do with this man and whatever the hell he was working on that was so important- she simply wanted to catch her boss and make him do his job. Accidentally knocking a book off the table she was next to, Eva swore softly and set her phone down before picking it up- at least it had been closed so she assumed he hadn't been using it.

"M-my name is Eva Moore." Stammering. Since when the hell did she stammer? "I-"

"Eva! There you are! I've been looking everywhere for you. I've got meetings to do and I can't do them if I don't have my assistant with me!" Tony emerged from the back with a jovial look in his eyes, holding a device that looked...pointy. And probably dangerous.

"You were looking for me in the back of this lab because...?" How Pepper dealt with him was beyond her. "Ya know, never mind. There's three men waiting for you upstairs and I really don't want to deal with the harassment if I go back up there empty handed." And she probably shouldn't have mentioned that last part...

That jovial look was rapidly less jovial. "Harassment? Not in my tower."

Uh oh. Back peddle. "Well-" Damn it, again with the stammering. What the hell woman, you made your money for years bossing 1000 lb animals, get it together.

"Seriously. If someone's giving you problems, you tell me; I'll deal with it." A strange relief filled Eva- while the behavior of the men was extremely disconcerting, she'd been putting off bringing it up for fear that he'd dismiss her like they had. The corporate world was completely different from the one she'd grown up with and Eva hadn't been certain what Tony's opinion on the matter would be. The fact that he was defending her rather than brushing her off was... nice. Made Every Other Thursday a little more bearable.

"Will do, but you're late and need to be upstairs." Now time to push aside the warm fuzzies and wrangle this man to where he was supposed to go.

"Nonsense, a Stark is never late. Also- Eva, Dr. Bruce Banner- Bruce, Eva Moore." With the abrupt introduction, Eva's attention was drawn back to the mild-mannered looking doctor; However Tony was off like a shot after putting up his little device and Eva simply nodded to the doctor once, too distracted by the whirlwind of what was going on this early in the day before trailing after Tony.


End file.
